Thursday, November 23, 2006

Brookdale Shopping Center

Brooklyn Center, Minnesota - 1967

Dayton's anchor store and interior court area views, inside the Brookdale Shopping Center in the late sixties. I've always dug that stylish Dayton's script logo, and it just seems to go so well with this rather swinging looking shopping mall!

Appears we might have another monofilament line "rain fountain" here, too, like the ones in Topanga Plaza and South Coast Plaza, among others. Here's some history from Wikipedia:

Brookdale Center is a large shopping mall in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. It is anchored by Macy's (formerly Dayton's, then Marshall Field's) and Sears.

It is part of the four "Dale" shopping centers circling the Twin Cities, originally developed by The Dayton Co. The others are Southdale Center, Rosedale Center, and Ridgedale Center.

Living in New Brighton in the 60s and 70s, we did our day-to-day shopping at the now-erased Apache Plaza. But for the special occasions, it was Brookdale all the way! Cool place that remained pretty much as you see it in the photos until the late 90s. The came the, er, "improvements.": tore half the mall down, built a new food court, dismantled all the nice 60s style and made it Wal-mart bland--all in the name of progress mind you. Didn't help increase traffic much. When will the bastards learn !?!?!? Incidentally, anyone out there remember the cool octagonal, space-age Red Owl store on the mall property? Looked like a big space ship had landed.

Well, I'm only 21, but I remember Brookdale in the 1980s, and it looked almost exactly like it does in the photos.

Today, Brookdale serves a more "inner city" demographic when compared to other malls in the area. Needless to say, I no longer shop there. It has gone the way of City Center, a former "mall" which should be familiar to some of Minnesota's local posters.

From less than a block away from the mall, a guy offered to sell me some drugs. This was just last month, so it shows you the state of affairs down by Brookdale.

It's really sad to see it go the way it has when you look at these beautiful photos, though. I'll always have the fondest memories of the mall, including the lovely food court.

I loved hanging out at Brookdale, back in the day. Back in junior high, our big day out would be to walk from our houses (we lived close enough to not have to be mortified by having Mom drive us!!!) to the mall. We had the day planned out: Where we'd shop first, eat lunch etc. Then we'd cross Bass Lake Rd. and go to a movie! What bliss! Got my ears pierced at the Daytons jewelry counter. sigh

Brookdale was remodeled in 2001. However, many of the orignal brick work around the interior of the then Dayton's, now Macy's, still exists.

The remodel was a failed attempt to revitalize a failing mall. Flooring and ceilings were replaced. New seating areas and plantings were added. However, little was done to change the outside facade of the mall. When driving by, Brookdale still looks in disrepair.

During the remodel of 2001, many new chain stores were added to the mall. Stores such as American Eagle, Kay Jewelers, The Gap, and Old Navy were some of the new tenants. However, due to Brookdale's easy access to north Minneapolis, an area laced with crime and poverty, many of these "suburban" stores closed within 2 years of the remodel.

In 2003 The Shoppes at Arbor Lakes opened in the nearby suburb of Maple Grove. "The Shoppes" is a very large, very fancy lifestyle center. The opening of The Shoppes proved to be the final blow to an already depressed Brookdale. It took a vast area away from Brookdale's regional retail trade area. It also took many of the more affluent customers away.

Today, Brookdale is a dangerous place to be. Most of the traditional mall stores have jumped ship. In there place lies either vacant store fronts or stores that cater to the "inner city" youth demographic. Shouting and fighting can be heard through the halls of Brookdale. Even the mall's Macy's store feels unsafe to be in. In late 2005, Brookdale was actually shut down for a day when a musical concert held in the mall got out of control. Fighting broke out among youth, and police evacuated the mall. Two of the four anchor tenants have also left the mall in the past couple of years.

Brookdale is a neat place to go for anyone interested in mall history. While the other four "dale" shopping centers (Southdale, Rosedale, Ridgedale) in the twin Cities have been updated through the years, Brookdale still has many of its original parking lot designation signs, architecture, etc. However, it not an ideal shopping destination. If you do go to the mall, park near one of the Macy's entrances. Trouble always seems to be lurking in the dark corridors that lead to the main mall entrances.

Brookdale is now under new management, and changes have been promised. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Brookdale is long gone. Torn down this past summer. People didn't go there because of the close proximity and ease to get there from the troubled areas of North Minneapolis. Crime was getting out of hand. As one that grew up going to Brookdale I no longer went there because of the problems there. Harrassed often. The fighting and yelling made it uncomfortable. I always wanted to find a niche and have a shop there but when the problem people started there I wanted nothing to do with that place. Doesn't bother me anymore that it is gone. Sad as it is.

The "White Boxes" were actually FISH TANKS, that held horrible Piranha, and very lost Clownfish. One by one, the fish died...all but the mighty Piranha. I think the tanks were gone by '77-78. This part of Brookdale is long gone - and all but Sears will remain by fall 2013.